MOSCOW, June 22 (RAPSI) — The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, has approved a government bill providing for the legalization of parallel imports of goods.

The draft law is to reduce a rise in prices for imported goods caused by the actions of unfriendly countries, according to member of the Council’s Committee on Economic Policy Alexander Zhukov.

According to the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, the initiative is to ensure both the interests of domestic consumers of products of foreign companies that have left the Russian market, and in general will contribute to the development of the Russian economy in the context of the sanctions policy applied against the Russian Federation by unfriendly countries.

In early May, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation published a list of more than 50 categories of goods that will be available for parallel imports. It included a variety of items: from plants to medicines, from soap to weapons. 

The document protects Russian companies that import goods without the permission of the copyright holder from possible civil, administrative and criminal liability.

The State Duma adopted the bill on June 21.